Solar Predicted v Actual Benefit, and Install Reliability

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Ispofdoom

3 posts

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#3131688 25-Sep-2023 16:28

dahc:

Ispofdoom:

...

We've ended up going with Harrison, Rec Alpha + Fronius. No battery as the ROI didn't make sense. We went with the premium options even though the payback period seems to be around 7 years as we intend to stay in this house for 10+ years it makes financial sense to pay a bit more now to get reliable returns further down the line.

I purchased Fronius (6kW) + REC TwinPeak 4 Series (7.4kW) and like yourself, I couldn't justify the additional expense of a battery. I've just come off 12 months of use and if I was to take this as an average I would have an ROI of eight years. Being that summer in Auckland was pretty sub-par, I'm ok with that as a baseline.

Glad to hear it's going well. Out of interest which provider are you with?

billgates

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#3131699 25-Sep-2023 17:02

@Ispofdoom

If you don't mind sharing, what did your Solar PV system cost?

Do whatever you want to do man.

dahc

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#3131955 26-Sep-2023 10:18

Ispofdoom:

dahc:

I purchased Fronius (6kW) + REC TwinPeak 4 Series (7.4kW) and like yourself, I couldn't justify the additional expense of a battery. I've just come off 12 months of use and if I was to take this as an average I would have an ROI of eight years. Being that summer in Auckland was pretty sub-par, I'm ok with that as a baseline.

Glad to hear it's going well. Out of interest which provider are you with?

I went with Solar365 and had a great experience. They sub-contracted the install which I understand is not some some peoples liking but I saw this having two points of contact with each wanting a successful outcome. If either of the two were to go out of business in the future then I still have a company who has some responsibility for the install.

rbensonx

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#3160832 18-Nov-2023 13:42

'Invested' in the following

Sungrow SHRT10 Hybrid Inverter. 3 phase
Sungrow SBR256 25.6kwh battery
33 Rec Alpha 405w panels

The payback period goes out a lot longer with a battery. In my case probably around 8 years with a battery and half without.

We wanted resilience and to cut big bills down as we get into retirement age. Have both those so pretty happy with the result

I'm active with my system, understand it well and its optimised pretty well for us. Thats far beyond what the supplier and installer had envisaged, I've educated them a bit along the way.

For us its paying off really well. Power tariff has increased significantly so the payment is coming down in real terms as well (without solar $8K a year in power would be close to $10k).

I'm also working within constraints from Vector etc. Given the change Id probably add 50% more capacity

Lots of factors to take into account. Living in the land of the long white cloud isn't helpful BTW

01EG

612 posts

Ultimate Geek
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#3162367 22-Nov-2023 11:36

Wombat1:

it all depends on where you live, in Wellington for example I would never even think about adding solar onto our house there (maybe wind turbines would be better). Here in Brisbane we have so many sunshine hours that it is actually silly not to have solar.

Is it true you can get a rebate on solar energy in Australia? thanks

wellygary

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#3162399 22-Nov-2023 13:39

Wombat1:

it all depends on where you live, in Wellington for example I would never even think about adding solar onto our house there (maybe wind turbines would be better). Here in Brisbane we have so many sunshine hours that it is actually silly not to have solar.

it's not only about sunshine hours, Without a battery in the system its all about being able to load shift demand into periods of solar generation to displace "retail units" you would otherwise buy from the grid
[the exception is if your grid operator will let you "net meter"- but most don't and will only pay you "wholesale" for you input units]

That aside, in Brisbane your big load is summer daytime cooling (which usually coincides with peak solar generation)...
In Wellington and many parts of NZ, it is evening winter heating (when the sun isn't shining)

If you are not a dormitory household and can shift enough load to solar generation times, then the numbers stack up much quicker,

Mighty Ape

Shop now at Mighty Ape (affiliate link).

networkn

Networkn
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#3162401 22-Nov-2023 13:52

Quinny:

Harrisons, Solaredge, LG Panels, Tesla Powerwall. 3 years in and love it still. Zero regrets. I paid 36k and well worth every cent. Upped house value and also means power less than 3000 units a year for an electronics nuts household. Still check the Tesla app almost every day. In Chch area.

What is your payback period?

36K is a huge investment. I am guessing you either consume huge power (as we do) or you did it for the love of the technology?

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